


Tuesdays at the French Theater

by prissygirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Curse, Comedy, F/M, Fluff, Rumbelle - Freeform, Rumbelle Showdown 2016, floof family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:59:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6836326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prissygirl/pseuds/prissygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gold takes his young son Bae to the movies every Tuesday. But this time, it isn't the show that's caught Gold's eye. Floof Family AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There wasn’t a lot to do in Storybrooke most week nights. In Mr. Gold’s opinion, there probably wouldn’t have been anything worth doing if not for the local movie theater. 

The French Theater was a tiny brick building that had stood on the corner ofMain Street for fifty years. Despite changing in both name and ownership earlier that year, it had remained one of the few kid-friendly venues in town. Each Tuesday, the theater had a kids’ night, showing films ranging from current releases to classics. He and his five-year-old son, Bae, went every Tuesday without fail. 

Tonight was no exception. The theater was showing a Disney film that Bae was anxious to see. 

Gold was anxious as well, but not for the same reason. He scanned the now empty lobby once again, his foot tapping impatiently. Cora Mills had promised to meet him and Bae for the movie, yet it was nearly showtime and she was nowhere to be seen. He had called her twice already, but she hadn’t answered. 

He knew she had been less than thrilled with the idea of going to a kid’s movie, but he had thought it would be a nice, non-confrontational way for Cora and Bae to finally meet. However, he now wondered if it was less about the film than the three and a half foot chaperone that would be accompanying them. 

Unless there were some extenuating circumstances, Gold realized this was probably the end of his new relationship. He didn’t have time for someone who didn’t have time for his son.  

With a deep sigh, he motioned to Bae for them to get into line. They were the only ones left, everyone else having already filled into the theater some time ago. 

Gold handed his son some money and watched as Bae dutifully stepped up to the counter. 

“Two tickets!” 

Gold cleared his throat. 

Bae picked up on the hint automatically and cleared his own throat in a subconscious mimic of his father. 

“Two tickets,  _please_.” 

The cashier, an unfamiliar woman whose name tag read “Belle”, smiled and took the cash from Bae. 

“Of course, sir,” she said seriously, though Gold could see a hint of humor in her eyes. “It’s very nice of you to take your father out to a movie.” 

“It’s our Boys’ Night Out,” Bae declared proudly. 

“Mom didn’t get to come along, huh?” Belle winked conspiratorially. Bae made a face. 

“Nah, she goes to movies with her new boyfriend.” 

“Oh.” 

“We’re divorced,” Gold clarified, giving her a strained smile. 

They locked eyes and he noticed that hers were a rather lovely shade of light blue. She smiled back at him. 

“Her loss, I’m sure.” 

Her smile was very kind and Gold found that words seemed to elude him for the moment. As his brain tried to scramble for a response, he saw Bae look between the two of them, the wheels in his five-year-old brain clearly whirling fiercely. 

Gold had a horrible feeling that he knew what was coming before his son even opened his mouth. 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” 

Such an innocent question with far more implications than Gold was comfortable with. He wondered once again how Bae was so adept on catching onto such things. Shouldn’t his son at least reach puberty before he started trying to play matchmaker? 

“Bae, that’s an inappropriate question.” He made sure to avoid Belle’s gaze as he scolded his son gently, not wanting to see the disgust that was sure to be in her eyes at such an idea. 

“But papa, even Buzz has a girlfriend! And he’s a  _toy_.” 

Gold finally willed up the courage to look back at Belle, who seemed to be watching their conversation with avid interest. 

“We’ll uh, take those tickets now.” 

Her cheeks flushed a rather lovely shade of pink. “Of course,” she said, scrambling to get their receipt out of the printer. She pushed it across the counter towards them. “Enjoy the film.” 

“We will!” Bae grabbed the tickets from her and sprinted to the concession stand. 

Despite wanting to put as much space between himself and Belle as possible, Gold found he also really wanted to leave her with a slightly better first impression of himself – though his reasoning seemed to elude him at the moment. 

He leaned against the counter towards her. “So level with me here: am I about to watch a two hour movie about animated toys running around an attic?”

Her eyes shone with merriment as she shook her head. “No spoilers." 

"It’s been out for five years!" 

"Then you can clearly wait a few more minutes to find out.” Her lips pursed determinedly and he knew he wasn’t going to win this argument. However, he couldn’t find it in himself to care too much from the way the corner of her mouth quirked up at the corner. 

Had Bae not yelled for him to come buy him popcorn at that moment, he probably would have said something stupid, like tell her how beautiful she was or accidentally propose marriage, so Gold was infinitely grateful for his boy’s well-timed interruption. 

“Duty calls,” he said with a self-deprecating smile and a nod towards his son. 

Belle glanced over at where Bae stood, his arms folded over his chest and his foot tapping impatiently as he waited for his father to finish flirting. 

“I guess you better get going. It’d be a shame if you got in trouble with your boss.” She winked. “You’ll have to let me know what you think of the film.” 

He nodded and hurried over to Bae before he could embarrass himself further.

Usually he tried to keep Bae from eating too much junk food, but their Tuesday movie nights were an exception. His son walked away from the concession stand with a box of abundantly buttered popcorn and a large bag of Skittles. 

As they began to walk towards the theater door, Bae said – between large mouthfuls of popcorn – “You should ask her out. She might have discounts.”

Despite his better judgment, Gold found himself glancing back at Belle, who met his glance with a smirk from across the theater lobby. He quickly turned his head back to his son as they walked into the dark theater.

He was grateful for the darkness; it would hide the blush that was currently staining his cheeks.   

A little over an hour and a half later, the movie finished and the two of them joined the crowd of families leaving the theater. Surprisingly, Gold found that he hadn’t minded the movie too much. Apart from the part near the end where he had needed to wrap a comforting arm around Bae to console him during a rather traumatic scene, it had been a rather enjoyable film.

As they walked out into the lobby, he found himself searching for Belle’s face. There were no more movies showing that night, so he wasn’t surprised to see that she wasn’t at the front desk.

Just as he had given up hope of seeing her, he saw the diminutive brunette out of the corner of his eye approach them, carrying a cup of coffee in her hand.

“How’d you like the movie?” she asked once she reached them. 

“It was great!” Bae exclaimed. “Even better than the first two.” 

Belle nodded. “It’s my favorite, too.” She glanced towards him. “And what did papa bear think?” 

Once again, Gold saw a sly look too knowing for a five-year-old cross Bae’s face. “I’m gonna go say hi to August, papa.” Without waiting for a reply, Bae raced off across the room to his friend. 

“It was…” Gold searched for the right word to answer Belle, finally stumbling across one he thought might get a chuckle out of her, “…bearable.”

 Belle giggled. “Touché.” She took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. “Oh dear.” 

“Yeah, Maurice’s coffee is rather terrible. You must be new here.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it! But no, I’m only helping out until they hire more staff. I just moved back to town to take over as head librarian at the community library.” 

Gold held out his hand. “Aiden Gold. I run the shop across the street from you.” 

She shook it. “Belle French.” His eyes grew wide and his cheeks burned in embarrassment.

“Wait,  _French_? So you’re – “ 

“Pumpkin, I need your help!” 

They both turned towards the booming voice of Moe French, who was waving Belle to the back of the lobby. 

“Duty calls,” she said, echoing his earlier words. “I’m sure I’ll see you and your son again. I have a feeling I might be filling in on Tuesday nights more often.” 

He nodded dumbly, turning to make his way towards Bae, but a soft pressure on his arm stopped him. He looked down to see Belle’s hand laying there. 

“By the way,” she said, leaning close, laughter dancing like stars in her eyes, “I  _do_  get a discount.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: This chapter was my Round 1 story for the 2016 Rumbelle Showdown. The prompts were "Stood up, Toys in the attic, Stars in her eyes". I'll be putting up the next chapter soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold and Bae take Belle to dinner at Granny's. Hedgehogs and greatest weaknesses are discussed.

It had taken a month of Tuesday night movies before Gold had finally gotten up the courage to ask Belle out.

Bae had insisted on coming along, clearly skeptical that his father would be able to manage without his help. Gold couldn’t exactly blame the kid – he couldn’t remember the last time he had been this nervous.

In fact, he was fairly certain he hadn’t sweated this much since puberty.

It was a Friday night that saw them all sitting together in a booth at Granny’s, munching happily on their hamburgers. Gold found himself content to watch while Belle and Bae animatedly discussed the film the theater had shown earlier that week.

He couldn’t really remember too much about it, apart from there being a talking pig that had tried to herd sheep. No, he’d been much too focused on practicing what he was going to say to Belle when he asked her out after the film.

Despite his careful preparation, he had of course botched his speech up entirely when the moment came. But as Belle now sat across from him, laughing happily with his son, he couldn’t find anything to regret. Bae was slightly monopolizing the conversation of course – a not unexpected side effect of bringing one’s six-year-old on a first date – but Belle and he had at least gotten some good conversation in earlier, covering thrilling topics like the weather, work, and politics.

Gold snorted quietly to himself. No wonder Bae had felt the need to interrupt.

If he was honest, the strangest part of the date so far had actually been how normal it all felt. They looked just like the other half dozen families that were also having dinner at Granny’s that night. The thought that perhaps they could one day be a real family made Gold’s heart twitch painfully in his chest.

Deciding it was probably a bit too early in the game to be contemplating marriage – especially before he had even guaranteed a second date – Gold turned his attention back to what Bae was saying, realizing the conversation had changed. It took a moment for him to catch up, but it seemed his son was currently gloating over how his friend August had to give up sweets for six weeks for Lent.

“We’re not Catholic, so I don’t have to give up anything,” Bae announced triumphantly to Belle.

Gold felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. He quickly clamped down on it through, schooling his features into a mock serious expression as he turned towards Bae.

“I don’t know, son. It might be a good exercise in self-control for you. Maybe you could cut back on your video games for a while.”

Bae’s crestfallen expression told him his son hadn’t realized he was teasing. “But papa!”

He reached out a hand to ruffle Bae’s hair. “I’m only kidding.”

Turning towards Belle, Gold spoke again. “He’s been playing with the Wii over at August’s house, but he only just got his own for his birthday a couple weeks ago.”

Belle nodded thoughtfully. “I’m afraid I don’t know very much about video games. I didn’t even know kids could play them that young.”

“Many of his games feature educational components,” Gold replied quickly, suddenly desperate that Belle not think he was a bad father. “Though I’ll admit there’s a blue hedgehog involved in some of the others.”

“Yeah, Sonic is super cool,” Bae said shoving the last of his cheeseburger into his mouth. “You’ll have to come over and play sometime.”

“Bae, please don’t talk with your mouth full,” Gold scolded gently. Between his son’s manners and video game addiction, Gold had the feeling he wasn’t going to be up for any Father of the Year Awards in Belle’s eyes. Perhaps he really should start limiting Bae’s time in front of the TV more.

After all, the library provided free and educational entertainment. He should really take Bae there more often. If Belle just happened to work there now, that was just an added bonus.

At the current moment, Belle seemed to be rather amused, though Gold couldn’t tell if it was from the topic of conversation or Bae making a show out of doing everything except talking while he ate.

“Well, I’ve never seen a hedgehog before,” Belle said, “blue or otherwise – so I guess I’ll have to come see it.”

Bae nodded excitedly. “Papa can cook something – it’ll be great!”

Gold made an exaggerated roll of his eyes, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be too annoyed. His son may be bossy, but Bae was doing an excellent job of playing matchmaker.

He doubted most dating websites could boast this quick a turnaround.

“So Aiden, if you had to give up something for a month, what would it be?” Belle leaned in a bit, her voice barely above a whisper. “What’s your greatest weakness?”

Her blue eyes were bright with merriment and he had the sudden wild impulse to reply with “your eyes.”

Thankfully, there was a god somewhere – perhaps he ought to give up something after all – and he managed to answer, if rather hoarsely, “Coffee.”

Belle smiled as she leaned back in her seat. Gold had the feeling he hadn’t fooled her one bit.

“What about you? Any guilty pleasures?” he asked, picking up his cup to take a sip.

Her grin only widened. “Romance novels.”

Gold choked on his coffee.

“Ew,” Bae said. “Like with kissing and stuff?”

Gold coughed a couple times, avoiding Belle’s gaze. He supposed he should be more worried about Bae’s comment of “and stuff” but he was too busy thinking about Belle’s answer. It was both alluring and frightening at once. He rather liked the idea of her being interested in reading such things, but did that also mean she expected him to look like one of those bare-chested heroes from the cover of her books underneath his suit?

She’d be sorely disappointed if she did. He made a mental note to start hitting the gym, just in case.

Belle had turned her attention back to Bae after Gold had finished his coughing fit, but he could swear she was still watching him out of the corner of her eye.

“Yes, Bae. I must admit that I do like ‘kissing books’.”

His son seemed to think this over for a moment. “Do you like kissing, too? Because I think my papa – ”

“Will you look at the time!” Gold exclaimed, standing up abruptly from the table. “We should really be going – Bae’s bedtime, you understand.”

Belle seemed to be barely keeping back a laugh, but she managed to nod. “Of course.”

Gold threw down some bills on the table, thankful they had all finished their meal before Bae went into turbo cupid mode.

Belle stood up as well, picking up her coat from the booth.

“Please, allow me.” Gold reached out and took it from her hands, holding the pink woolen coat open for her. She shot him a grateful look over her shoulder before shrugging into it.

He turned to see if Bae needed help, only to see that his son had shoved his parka on quickly and was already halfway out the door.

Gold rolled his eyes and grabbed his own coat. He and Belle followed out the door after Bae, catching up to him on the sidewalk outside the diner.

“I had a nice time,” Belle said, addressing both him and Bae. “We’ll have to do it again.”

“You still need to come over to our house,” Bae replied before Gold could respond. “Then you can see my games.”

“Only if your papa doesn’t mind,” Belle said, suddenly looking a bit hesitant.

Perhaps it was Belle’s moment of uncertainty, but Gold suddenly felt a lot more confident.

“We’d love to have you over,” he said quickly. “Next Friday perhaps? Same time?”

“Sounds great!” Belle flashed them both a bright smile and gave a little wave. “I’ll see you then – and Tuesday of course.”

Neither Bae nor he moved as Belle turned around and walked down the street towards her apartment above the library. It was only a short distance away, but he made no move towards his car until he saw that she was safely inside the building.

He let out a sigh, not sure if it was one of contentment at how things were progressing or if it was disappointment at Belle having left them for the night.

“So papa, you were just joking about me giving up video games, right?”

Gold glanced down at his son with a smirk, but found himself actually considering the idea. “I don’t know. It could be a good character building exercise to give up our favorite thing.”

Bae narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Guess you have to give up hanging out with Belle then.”

“Well,” Gold replied slowly, “I suppose there’s always next year.”

Bae turned towards the car smugly. “That’s what I thought.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: This chapter was my Round 3 story for the 2016 Rumbelle Showdown. The prompts were "Video game addiction, Romance novels, Coffee."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle comes over to watch a movie with Gold and Bae. The youngest Gold makes it impossible for her to leave.

It wasn’t unusual for Bae to fall asleep on the couch when they watched a movie most Saturday nights. With his belly full from dinner and his body worn out from an afternoon spent playing at the park, Bae would always curl up against his father and be unconscious well before the movie ended.

However, Bae’s soft snores were not the anomaly tonight. Instead, it was the pair of bright blue eyes gazing at Gold over the top of Bae’s unruly curls.

“I think we tuckered him out,” Belle said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Gold nodded. “He had a busy day. I think he quite liked having two people hanging on his every word all evening.”

Liked was probably an understatement. Bae’s excitement at having Belle over to the house was only matched by that of his father. She’d been coming over for dinner more and more over the past month, and the Golds couldn’t have been more pleased.

Belle smiled at Bae, her hand reaching out to gently push back a curl that had fallen into the boy’s face. “He’s so sweet when he sleeps, isn’t he?” she asked, her voice filled with something almost like awe.

“Aye,” Gold replied, his voice thick with some emotion he couldn’t quite name. Whatever it was, it felt right. Having Belle with them felt right. He’d only known her for few months, but Gold had already grown used to her presence in their lives, something he’d never thought possible before meeting her. He and Bae had been the perfect twosome. But now that Belle had joined the picture, it felt like they should have always been three.

Belle gestured towards the TV where the credits were rolling across the screen. “I should leave, but I don’t want to wake him.” She nodded towards her other arm, which was pinned behind Bae. “It seems I’m a bit stuck.”

“He’s got me too,” Gold said, realizing his son was wrapped around his arm too tightly for him to move it. “Selfish little thing, isn’t he?”

Belle looked down at Bae with a fond smile. “I don’t know – it’s kind of nice to be needed.”

Gold’s next joke died on his lips as he took in the pretty picture that Belle and Bae made together. Bae’s own mother had always thought their son a burden, but Belle looked at him like the treasure he was. If it wasn’t for the fifty-pound obstacle between them, Gold would have kissed her on the spot.

“It’s more than nice,” he said instead, hoping Belle understood that he meant so much more.

Her eyes met his. As always, she seemed to know his thoughts as well – if not better – than he did.

“It definitely is,” she agreed softly, her eyes shining in the dim light that glowed from the TV. She leaned forward and Gold hurried to meet her, moving closer until –

“I’m awake!” Bae sat up with a jolt, his voice bleary. “I uh – wasn’t asleep.”

Having barely avoided being headbutted by his son, Gold extracted his arm and risked a glance at Belle. Her cheeks were bright red, and she seemed to be avoiding his gaze, though the corners of her lips were turned up in a barely contained smile. Like Gold, she took the opportunity to extract her arm. With more than a hint of amusement in her voice, she turned to Bae. “Just resting your eyes, huh?”

“Yep, I was…“ Bae let out a jaw-cracking yawn. “…just resting my eyes.”

Gold ruffled the boy’s hair. “It sounds like you need to go to bed.”

Bae shook his head determinedly. “I’m not tired,” he said, right before letting out another yawn.

Belle began to stand up. “I should be going then.”

“No!” both Gold and Bae shouted in unison. They looked at each other for a moment before turning to look at Belle, who let out a chuckle.

“Who can say no to that amount of enthusiasm?” She plopped back down on the couch. “But it is pretty close to bed time,” she said in a resigned voice to Bae. “I don’t know if there’s much else we can do tonight.”

“You can read me a story!” Bae was completely awake now. “Papa’s been reading me a book of fairy tales. You can help him with the girl voices.”

Gold put a hand to his chest in mock outrage. “You said you loved my princess voices.”

Bae gave his father a disdainful look. “Not everyone is supposed to be Scottish, papa.”

“It came in handy when we read _Brave_!”

A snort startled them both, and they looked back at Belle, who was covering her mouth with one hand. “Excuse me,” she said sheepishly.  

Ten minutes later, they finally got Bae upstairs, despite his best attempts to wheedle a bedtime snack into the deal as well. His argument that Belle needed cookies backfired when she said she was full from dinner still, and the wounded look he had given them both afterwards had reminded Gold once again that he was way over his head when it came to parenting a charismatic six-year-old.

Another fifteen minutes passed before Bae was in his pajamas, teeth brushed and clothes laid out for the next morning. He was tucked into bed, his Iron Man blanket clutched in his tiny hands. He looked at the two of them expectantly, wriggling a bit where he sat. “I’m ready now.”

Gold exchanged amused looks with Belle, who sat on Bae’s other side. Grabbing the book off the nightstand, he flipped it open, turning the pages until he found the next story. He smiled when he recognized it as being the same film they had seen just days before at the theater, the one Belle had declared was one of her favorites as a child, for obvious reasons.

As he handed the book over to her, their fingers brushed against each other briefly, causing the memory of their interrupted kiss to leap into his mind and his face to warm slightly. If they were lucky, Bae would soon be asleep again, and they would be able to pick up where they’d left off.

The smirk Belle gave him told him she was thinking the same thing.

But first, they had a story to tell. Belle cleared her throat and began to read. “Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Final chapter up next week! Thanks for hanging in there, everyone :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a big day for the Gold family. Gold, as usual, is nervous as hell.

Gold stood in front of the mirror, eyes narrowed at his tie which just refused to hang straight. He’d tied it half a dozen times now and the darn thing had yet to meet his approval. 

It was ridiculous – he tied a tie every day of his life. That he should be having problems on today of all days was absurd. 

Next to him, Bae sat calmly sipping a juice box and watching his father scowl at his reflection. 

“It looks great,” his son said before taking a loud sip. “You’re just nervous.” Putting his empty juice box on the table next to him, Bae jumped off the chair and walked up to Gold, giving him a big hug. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

The moment his son was in his arms Gold felt his worries melt away. Bae might only be six going on seven, but he had a sixth sense when it came to his father’s anxiety. Better yet, he knew exactly how to calm him. 

“Thanks, son.” Gold kissed the top of Bae’s head. “What would I do without you?”

Bae gave him a cheeky grin before bouncing back over to his chair and flopping down. “I dunno, but it would probably be really boring.”

Gold let out a deep belly laugh, only stopping when there was a knock at the door. A moment later the door opened and Archie Hopper’s head appeared through the opening, a big smile on the redheaded man’s face. “It’s time, gentleman.” 

Giving him a sharp nod, Gold adjusted his tie once more. Bae had been adamant about picking the color of both their ties and had chosen a soft light blue, swearing with all his six-year-old wisdom that it matched Belle’s eyes exactly. While Gold had his doubts about Bae’s color coordinating skills, the reasoning still made him smile. 

Satisfied at last with his reflection, he turned to follow Archie, motioning for Bae to follow. They walked out of the small office where they had been getting ready and into the French Theater’s lobby. Following Archie through the doors into the main auditorium, Gold couldn’t help but smile at the sight before him. 

Despite having made the finishing touches the day before, the room still took his breath away. Large swaths of shimmery white tulle, interwoven with silver and gold string lights, hung from the high ceilings. They had hired professionals to help with the draping, but otherwise, they had done the rest of the decorating themselves. Clusters of white roses hung from every other chair along the aisle, and more rose petals had been strewn down the aisle itself, leading to where Belle and Gold would say their vows. 

With only the twinkling string lights providing light in the otherwise dark theater, the effect was that of a night sky full of stars. Belle had confessed a childhood desire to be married outdoors under the stars, and they had decided this would be  a nice compromise between her dream and not freezing in the cold Maine weather. All in all, Gold thought the effect was quite beautiful. He hoped it was everything Belle could want on their wedding day. 

It had been the French Theater that had brought them together, so it had felt only fitting to have the wedding there. Gold had proposed exactly one year to the day he and Bae had met Belle there, in fact. It was a good thing his timing had been romantic, since the rest of his proposal had been a bit of a disaster. He’d been beyond nervous the entire time, his hands shaking as he stumbled over every other word. Bae of course had come to the rescue and finished the proposal for him with a slightly less eloquent, but certainly more direct, “What he’s trying to say is, Belle, will you marry us?”

The tears of joy in Belle’s eyes as she had enthusiastically shouted yes, throwing her arms around them both, had silenced any doubt left in Gold’s mind.  

They’d planned the wedding in four months, not wanting to wait any longer to begin their new life together as a family. The weeks before the wedding blew by in a whirlwind of planning and, despite their best efforts to keep the wedding as low-key and small as possible, they still found themselves spending most of their free time running errands or making decorations for the wedding. 

Bae tried to be helpful and was especially eager to help with decorations, though most of his creations were more artistic than usable. 

It had actually been Belle’s father who had been their biggest problem. Their guest list had seemed to grow every time Belle looked at it, thanks to Maurice issuing invitations to half of Storybrooke. They’d had to change the menu for the reception, since the number of guests ended up totaling almost twice as much as the initial estimate they’d given Granny. She’d refused to make individual meals for that large a group, and so they’d compromised on a buffet-style dinner in the end, though Gold had put his foot down when lasagna was suggested as one of the entrees.

Picking the wedding party had been much simpler. Bae was pulling double duty as both ring bearer and best man while Belle’s best friend Ruby was the maid of honor. Since neither Belle nor Gold considered themselves religious, they had asked Archie to serve as their officiant. The psychiatrist had helped Gold during the aftermath of his divorce, earning a respect from Gold that few others in Storybrooke shared. When it had come time to pick an officiant, the choice had been simple. 

Having made their way down to the front of the room, Gold took a moment to scan the audience and found dozens of faces staring right back at him. He felt his anxiety begin to flare up once more. But then the doors to the auditorium opened, and his worries disappeared as Belle came into view. 

She was a vision in soft, white lace, her dress pooling down to the floor and ending in a short train behind her. Her hair fell in soft curls down to her shoulders with a tiny pearl headband resting atop her head. Matching teardrop pearls hung from her ears and her throat. 

Maurice walked beside her, his big red face beaming with pride. Like Bae and Gold, he wore a black suit, but with a red bow tie at his neck. Gold spared Maurice a momentary glance before devoting his attention back to Belle. 

Their eyes locked from across the room. Her smile was brighter than any he’d ever seen, and his heart began to race as she slowly made her way down the aisle towards him. It was only when she was standing in front of him, one hand held in his own, that his heart calmed, and a sense of peace washed over him, leaving him to wonder how he had ever been lucky enough to end up where he stood today. 

From that moment on, his gaze never left Belle’s face. The ceremony passed by in a blur with Gold only marginally aware of what was happening around him. Thankfully, Bae elbowed him when it was his turn to say his vows. There were a few snickers from the wedding guests while he fumbled for the words, but with Belle lovingly squeezing his hand to reassure him, he made it through alright.

With the ceremony finished, everyone made their way down the street to Granny’s for the reception. Though the food was good and the company lively, Gold still counted down the minutes until he could make a polite exit. When Belle finally turned to him a couple hours later and told him she was “ready to go home”, he felt his love for her grow even more. 

A few minutes later, the three walked out of Granny’s arm in arm, ready to begin their life together as a family.

“So,” Belle said, looking between her new husband and son, “what do we do first?” 

Bae looked deep in thought for a moment before his eyes lit up. “I know! Let’s watch a movie.”

“Out of all the possibilities, that’s what you want to do?” Gold asked incredulously. 

Bae nodded vigorously. “It’s our thing.”

Shaking his head in amusement, Gold looked from Belle to Bae, feeling absolute joy swell up in him as he watched the two most important people in his life laugh happily together. 

“Yeah,” Gold said, beaming down at his new family, “I guess it is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading, especially those of you who have waited for this story to update for so long!


End file.
